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UN Police Action in Lieu of War: “The Old Order Changeth”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Thomas M. Franck  and
Faiza Patel
Thomas M. Franck
Affiliation:
New York University School of Law
Faiza Patel
Affiliation:
New York University School of Law
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Extract

The United Nations system is an elegant, carefully crafted instrument to make war illegal and unnecessary. To this end, in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, members are required to “refrain … from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

If such force is used despite that prohibition, the Charter envisages two kinds of military remedies: wars of self-defense and police actions. Article 51 authorizes members to use military force in exercise of the “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs” in violation of Article 2(4). This provision merely recognizes that the old war system may still be needed until the new system of global policing can secure the peace for all.

Type
Agora: The Gulf Crisis in International and Foreign Relations Law
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , January 1991 , pp. 63 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1991

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References

1 SC Res. 660 (Aug. 2, 1990).

2 SC Res. 661, paras. 3, 4, 5 (Aug: 6, 1990).

3 SC Res. 665, para. 1 (Aug. 25, 1990).

4 Secretary of State, 79th Cong., 1st Sess., Report to the President on the Results of the San Francisco Conference 87 (Comm. Print 1945) [hereinafter Report].

5 Doc. 881, 111/3/46, 12 UNCIO Docs. 765–66 (1945).

6 Id. at 769.

7 Id. at 766.

8 Id. at 769.

9 Id. at 761.

10 Id.

11 Doc. 943, III/5, 11 UNCIO Docs. 781 (1945).

12 Id.

13 Report, supra note 4, at 87.

14 Id.

15 Staff of Senate Comm. on Foreign Relations, 79th Cong., 1st Sess., Report on the Charter of the United Nations 8 (Comm. Print 1945) [hereinafter Senate Comm. Report].

16 91 Cong. Rec. 8020 (1945).

17 The view of the Charter as an organic treaty to be interpreted with a view to facilitating the expanding functions of the Organization was first expressed in Certain Expenses of the United Nations, 1962 ICJ Rep. 151 (Advisory Opinion of July 20).

18 Id. at 186 (Spender, J., sep. op.) (citation omitted).

19 Charter of the United Nations: Hearings Before the Senate Comm. on Foreign Relations, 79th Cong., 1st Sess. 210 (1945) (testimony of Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius).

20 Id. at 298.

20 Id. at 299.

22 Id.

23 Id. at 654.

24 Id.

25 Senate Comm. Report, supra note 15, at 9.

26 Id.

27 Id.

28 91 CongS. Rec. 8030 (1945).

29 Id. at 7957.

30 Id. at 7991.

31 Id. at 8059.

32 Id. at 8065.

33 Id. at 7156.

34 Id. at 7988.

35 Id. at 10,967.

36 Id. at 10,968.

37 Id. at 11,409.

38 Id. at 11,393.

39 Id. at 11,036.

40 Uniting for Peace Resolution, GA Res. 377A (V), 5 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 20) at 10, UN Doc. A/1775 (1951).

41 The President stated:

In Korea the Government forces … were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. … The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution. In these circumstances I have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean Government troops cover and support.

…

… A return to the rule of force in international affairs would have far-reaching effects. The United States will continue to uphold the rule of law.

Statement by the President on the Situation in Korea, June 27, 1950, 1950 Pub. Papers: Harry S Truman 492.

42 SC Res. 82 (June 25, 1950).

43 SC Res. 83 (June 27, 1950).

44 96 Cong. Rec. 9540 (1950).

45 Id. at 9329.

46 See id. at 9329.

47 Id. at 9158.

48 Id. at 9323.

49 Id. at 9538.

50 Id. at 9328.

51 Id. at 9320.

52 Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952).

53 Id. at 643 (Jackson, J., concurring).

54 Id. at 645.

55 Id.

56 Pub. L. No. 93-148, 87 Stat. 555, 558 (1973) (50 U.S.C. §§1541-1548 (1988)).

57 Id. §8(d)(2).

58 See Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States §115(1)(a)(1987).

59 United States v. Palestine Liberation Org., 695 F.Supp. 1456, 1463 (S.D.N.Y. 1988).

60 Id. at 1468.

61 Id.

62 Id.

63 Id. at 1468-69.

64 Id. at 1465.

65 Id. at 1465-66.

66 Id. at 1466.